


all granddaughters are princesses (in their grandmother's eyes)

by sansakatara



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 07:47:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30119469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sansakatara/pseuds/sansakatara
Summary: She had told her brother to go away when he had knocked at her door, and refused to open it for either of their parents. But she would open it for her grandmother.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	all granddaughters are princesses (in their grandmother's eyes)

Red, puffy cheeks and runny nose, Catalina was far from a dainty crier.

She had barred herself in her room for the past hour or so. It was all Hugo’s fault. Robert, Perrianne, and Alys Belmont were visiting them with their lord father. They had been bored, and Catalina conscious of her role as host, suggested they play Aegon and Arianne. Perrianne had smoothed her braid and said she would be Arianne, while little Alys giggled and said their names sounded similar. 

_Catalina frowned. “But I wanted to be Arianne.” She could almost hear her lady mother scolding her, but Catalina didn’t care. She wanted to be Arianne, especially if Robert was going to be Aegon. Robert was Hugo’s age. He didn’t look anything like a Targaryen, but he had the loveliest brown eyes and dimples. He was tall too, taller than Hugo, which Catalina knew secretly annoyed Hugo, who didn't like to bested in anything._

_“But I said it first.” Perianne said._

_“It doesn’t work like that.” Catalina huffed. Then she paused, and decided to try diplomacy. “Let me be Arianne first, then I promise you can have the next turn and Alys too. It just makes sense for me to go first, because I’m practically a princess too.”_

_Hugo laughed. “You’re not a princess, Cat.”_

_Catalina wanted to throttle him. Of course, she knew that. As always, he was missing the point. “Our father is Prince Desmond, is he not? And our Grandmother was a Queen, and our Great-Uncle a King.”_

_“That doesn’t make you a princess, though.” Hugo pointed out. “You know that Northern law says that only the children of the eldest two are given royal titles. So, if Sansa and Wylla were here, one of them should be Arianne, not you. Even a baby would know that.”_

_"I'm not a baby!"_

_“Nor a princess either.” Perriane laughed, and Alys’ cheeks looked like they were hurting from her valiant effort not to smile. Only Robert looked a little sorry for her, but there was a hint of impatience, judging by the restless tap of his foot._

_Lip wobbling, Catalina ran from them. She knew it was shameful, but all she wanted now was to hide._

"Catalina, may I come in?"

She had told her brother to go away when he had knocked at her door, and refused to open it for either of their parents. But she would open it for her grandmother. Before getting up, Catalina rubbed at her eyes furiously.

Although her proper title was now Princess given her abdication, most people still referred to Sansa Stark as Queen. To Cat, she was simply Grandmother. Catalina supposed that wasn’t surprising, though. Catalina’s grandmother had ruled as the first Queen in the North. She was one of several examples of women with such power. Although Hugo was the heir apparent, the succession laws passed by Aegon the Sixth or the Aegon the Returned or Aegon the Sun’s Promise or Aegon the Last or the Puppet Prince depending on your persuasion, meant that absolute primogeniture was discarded. Once, Catalina’s nurse had told her he did so to honor his beloved, Arianne of Dorne. The less romantic explanation given by her father was that it was a necessary political move at the time. Catalina saw the sense of that, but she couldn’t help but like Darla’s story a little better. 

Therefore, this meant that no younger brothers would push Catalina from her position in the succession line. Should Catalina’s older brother die unexpectedly, perhaps while they were still children, or as a grown man without issue, Catalina would be Lady of House Royce. Such a possibility sometimes felt like cold fingers brushing at the back of Catalina’s neck, but it was a possibility her parents wanted to prepare her for. 

Grandmother was different from the other queens though, like the Young Wolf’s Queen Jeyne and Queen Krishna, wife to King Torrhen, as she ruled in her own right. It had been Sansa Stark that managed to preserve the lives of the stubborn Northerners who would no longer kneel to a distant, southern king by finally and bloodlessly securing Northern independence. 

Catalina loved hearing stories of her queen grandmother, and her great-aunt Princess Arya, who the singers paid homage to with their songs of her bravery during the War for the Dawn. Catalina’s father said that both Arya and Sansa had become hugely popular names, much in the same way Brandon the Builder did. Cousin Rodrik who was of an age with Hugo, once wrote in one of his letters that he personally knew of half a dozen girls named in honor of their grandmother, and that Arya’s name was a particularly popular choice among the commons.

Better still than the stories, was seeing her grandmother herself. Catalina’s memory stretched back to when she was four, when Queen Sansa visited her son and his lady wife, followed by more visits in the fifth and sixth years of Catalina’s life. Now she was seven, and Grandmother was visiting them again.

Each time, she would stay for a month or so, and it never felt long enough; but Mother said she should be grateful, as sometimes a person might not see their kin for years and therefore, she and Hugo were very lucky that their grandmother visited them as often as she did. Catalina didn’t know how that could be true. Their Northern cousins were the lucky ones, as Grandmother lived at Winterfell and they got to see her whenever they liked.

Grandmother sat down on the bed beside her. “What’s the matter, Catalina?” She asked gently, handing her a cloth to wipe her nose.

It was enough to make Catalina burst into a fresh river of tears.

“It’s not fair. Hugo is soooo mean a-an-d Sansa and Wylla and Rodrik get to see you whenever they like and they’re real princesses too!" She paused, hiccuping. "Well, just Sansa and Wylla, because Rodrik's a boy."

“Yes,” Catalina said miserably. “I know I’m not really a princess. I just wanted to be Arianne.” She wiped her nose with the cloth. “I wish I was, though.”

“Come here,” Her grandmother held her close.

“Do you know how happy I was when you were born?” 

Catalina shook her head. 

“I couldn’t stop smiling for days. I adored my three boys, but I always wanted a daughter.” Grandmother kissed her cheek. “ So I can’t tell you how happy I was when you were born. I would never have a little girl of my own, but I now had a precious little granddaughter.”

“Sansa and Wylla were born two years after me though, so it’s not like I was your only granddaughter for long.” Catalina couldn’t help but rebut, but secretly she felt pleased all the same.

“That’s true. But you were my first granddaughter. Nothing can take that away. And all granddaughters are princesses in their grandmother’s eyes.”


End file.
